The New Guy
by cupsleeve
Summary: A/U fic. Misty wants to become a pokemon trainer. The only problem is, only boys are allowed to become one! So what does she do? She enrolls in the Pokemon Institute, the school for future pokemon masters...as a boy!
1. First Glance

**The New Guy**

Disclaimer: Bet you've all seen enough of these, haven't you? *.*

Note:  In this fic, only boys can become pokemon trainers.  They have to go to special pokemon schools if they want to become pokemon masters.  Misty, Ash, and the rest have never met yet, unless they know each other from school.

Splat!

A wet, slimy, wad of paper landed right in the middle of the teacher's forehead.  He barely even stuttered as he wiped it off with the back of his hand and continued reading aloud from the book in his hands.  A rather handsome young man, with brown hair and blue eyes, he was the only thing that was remotely calm in the room.

The entire class was in a frenzy.  The students had split into three groups; two of them were having a war against each other.  Pencils, erasers, and other junk flew across the room, occasionally landing on an unfortunate boy's head.  The other group, consisting of the two or three boys who actually wanted to learn, was trying hard to hear their teacher above all the shouts.

 "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"  A shrill scream from a small, nerdish looking boy with glasses sitting at the front of the room erupted into the air.  His hair was dripping with what looked like a mix of sour milk, rotten apple mush, and other objects too rotten to make out.  His uniform was a mess, with the concoction running down his shirt.

The boys who had thrown the goop laughed in the back right-hand corner of the class as the boy dashed out of the classroom crying.  The teacher hardly took notice of this and continued reading, as if nothing had just happened.  After all, it occurred almost every single day.

The group of boys at the left-hand side of the room looked on in disgust at the scene.  One of them, a rather short kid, about 10 years old, with spiky black hair and a red and white cap, stepped forward.  He seemed to be the leader of his group.

"This is between you guys and us!  Leave them out of it!"  He shouted at the laughing group opposite him.  His chocolate brown eyes flashed angrily as the leader of the other side stepped up with a sneer on his face.

"Who cares about them?  All they ever do is cry anyway."  He snickered and looked toward his pals behind him.  They snickered back at him.  The kid had brown, spiked hair and was taller and heavier, not to mention stupider, than anyone else in the class.  

"Like you never do, Ramon."  The kid with the cap on replied, distaste evident in his voice.  Behind him, his three friends laughed at the bewildered look on their opponents face.

Ramon looked puzzled.  He could not remember when someone had seen him cry.  "Shut up, Ash, or I'll…I'll…I'll sic my pokemon on you."  He growled, pleased that he had come up with a retort.

Ash had an amused look on his face.  Turning towards his friends, he nodded in Ramon's direction.  "So, he wants to sic his pokemon on me, huh?  What do you think, Richie?  Should we spoil the surprise for him?"

This was directed towards another 10 year old.  He had dusty red hair and was clad in what all the students at the Pokemon Institute wore: a white top and khaki pants. 

"Sure Ash."  He turned towards Ramon, a mischievous look in his blue eyes.  "Ramon, have you forgotten already?"

"What?"  The big 14 year old growled.  He could tell something was up, but he was not quite sure what.  In the background, the teacher was still reading aloud from his book, not noticing the tension growing in the room.  The remaining student who had been trying to pay attention was now focused on the scene in front of him, all thoughts of learning banished from his mind.

Richie and his friends shared a smile.  "This is still our first year.  We don't have pokemon yet."

Brrrrriiiiing.

The hallways erupted with sound as doors slammed open and everyone filed out.  Everyone was so busy trying to get to their next class on time that they hardly noticed the newcomer, struggling to get past them to the principal's office.  After about four minutes of mad dashing, the bell rang again and the halls were deserted again.

A young boy, about 12, hurried toward the door marked "Principal."  Upon reaching the door, he hesitated, as if trying to convince himself that what he was doing was right.  He knocked on the solid wood softly, and heard some mumbling, followed by a voice.

"Come in."

Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and stepped inside.

The principal was young, very young.  He looked to be about 17 years old.  He had spiked black hair and was wearing the same uniform as the students.  In fact, if he had not been wearing the nameplate that said "Principal Dude," you would have thought he went to school here. 

"Miss Hackers!  Are you done with the paperwork yet?  I need them by tomorrow!"  He shouted over to his secretary, an old, frizzled woman, with gray hair pulled back into a bun, who was sitting right next to him.

"No you do not, Mr. Dude.  You specifically told me last week that these papers were due in three weeks.  And next time, don't shout so loud in my ear.  I have gone half deaf in my right ear with you yelling down it every day."  She replied, eyeing his feet, which had crept up onto the oak table and somehow lost their shoes.

"Alright, alright.  You don't have to be so prickly about it, sheesh."  Principal Dude sighed, getting up and walking over to the candy bar machine to one corner of his room.  He stuffed in some change and got a Twix bar.  Peeling the wrapper off, he stuck one of the sticks into his mouth.

Knock knock.

"Mmf well youfm geert thamft mphease?"  He called to his secretary around the mouthful of caramel and cookie.

"Come in."  Ms. Hacker called at the door.  She watched as a thin redheaded boy walked through the frame, looking around the office.  "Yes?  What do you need?"  She asked.

"Um, well, I'm kinda new here and, um, I was wondering if I could get a schedule."  The boy stated, all the while looking around the huge office.  He happened to notice the principal, who was trying unsuccessfully to cram the rest of the Twix into his mouth.

"Ah, let's see.  Have you registered?  Is there an adult with you?"  Ms. Hackers asked, as she had asked countless times before.

"Um, yes and no.  My parents and I came here about two weeks ago.  Today is my first official day at this school."  He responded, still unintentionally staring at the young man in the corner of the room, who had finally managed to shove the whole candy bar in and was now desperately choking on it.  He turned his attention back to the old woman in front of him.  "Er, shouldn't you try to help him?"

"Oh no, he does that all the time.  Oh, and by the way, this is your principal, Mr. Dude."  She didn't even look up from work, and thus failed to notice the slightly startled look coming from the young boy's face.  "I will need your name, last and first."

"Oh, um, Waters, Mick."  The boy seemed sort of nervous, directing his eyes toward the ground.

"Alright, Mick.  Here's your schedule, a map of the school grounds, three sets of regular school uniforms, one set of gym clothes, and your books, and a manual with everything you need to know about this school.  You will receive your starter pokemon after you have finished the preliminary training.  Right now is 2nd period, you have pokemon grooming.  If you have any questions, feel free to come ask me or just ask any of the staff around campus."  Ms. Hacker now turned her attention to the blue principle gasping for breath in the corner.  She walked calmly over to him and whacked him upside the head.  He quickly returned to his original color and reached for a glass of water.

The last thing Mick heard before closing the door behind him was the sound of breaking glass and several wheezed curses.

Mick looked at the newly printed schedule in front of him.  There were eight classes total, with the required math, english, and science classes, along with his previously selected pokemon classes: grooming, training, TMs & HMs,  battle techniques and items, and most important, pokemon battling.  He took a look at the school map and hurried towards the Level 1 Pokemon Grooming classroom.  Upon reaching the outside of the room, he took a deep breath, reached for the handle, and stepped inside.

The class was very quiet.  Ash looked around the room; everyone was staring at the sentret in the front, being brushed by their Grooming teacher.  Unlike his 1st period, which was always the noisiest class, the students actually paid attention.  His 1st hour was English, a class in which no one ever bothered trying to behave. Finding it boring and having no apparent relationship at all with pokemon, most of the class just sat around throwing things at each other and talking.  Ramon's gang and Ash's company were the two main teams in the class.  The English teacher had gotten so used to their constant bickering that he just let them do whatever they wanted.

"…now, the main thing is to hold the brush like this, with the handle resting against the inside of your wrist…"  The middle-aged male teacher continued.  He was showing them the proper way to hold a sentret brush.  Who knew that each pokemon required a different brush to satisfy them?  Suddenly, the door opened and a young, slender boy with bright red hair skirted in.  He had startling blue eyes in a face so pretty that it looked almost girlish.  He stared at the class nervously, walking up to the teacher.

"Er, I'm new here."  He told the breeder, uncomfortably aware that all the boys in the class were staring at him.  "My name is Mick Waters."

"Welcome to the Pokemon Institute, Mick.  I'm sure it will be a pleasure having you here.  Let's see, my name is Mr. Robbert.  I am your grooming teacher this year.  Now, let's find you a seat…there."  He pointed toward front of the room, where there was an empty chair in front of a rather large, brown haired boy.  "That boy there is Ramon.  He will be showing you around the school campus and introducing you to the friendliness of our student body."  Upon seeing the slightly angry look on Ramon's face, the teacher gave him a warning glance and showed the newcomer to his seat.

Ash watched the new student intently.  There was something different about him and he was going to find out what.  His thoughts shifted however, when he glimpsed Ramon passing the new boy a note. _ So, he thought, _it seems that Ramon's already trying to recruit the boy into his gang.  Jeez, can't he ever take a break?  The kid had barely been here a few minutes and already looked more than a little apprehensive.  No need to add any more pressure on him.__

Mick glanced around him, not daring to look behind.  The older boy sitting behind him scared him.  He reread the note that had been passed to him.  "_Join my gang or else, new kid.  Meet me after klass and I'l fill you in on the rooles.  You dont wanna no what wat happens to those who dont."  This was the guy who was supposed to show him around school?  _

The class passed by surprisingly fast, faster than Mick would have liked, though he did enjoy the lesson.  All too soon, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.  Mick stood up slowly and walked toward the door.  As soon as he stepped outside, he was surrounded by four boys, with Ramon as their leader. 

Ramon swaggered forward.  "See these here?  These are my buddies.  They can each beat the crap outta ya in a second.  Your pretty face won't save ya."  The four boys cracked their knuckles, as if emphasizing what Ramon had just said.  "Now, seeing as you're new here, I gotta explain the rules to ya.  Me and my gang rule this school.  All the little Level 1's are 'fraida us.  So are some of the Level 2's and 3's.  Consider yerself lucky.  You're being given a chance to join us."  His tone clearly meant that he would not take no for an answer.  Kids in the hall had stopped to see the scene.  They wanted to help the new kid but were all too scared to step up.

Mick stood defiantly, looking straight into Ramon's small, piggy eyes with his own crystal blue ones, "And what if I don't want to?"

Ramon was a little surprised.  Usually, anyone being confronted by like this would have been on the verge of tears, willing to give him anything he wanted.  He sputtered around for words.  "Well, then, um, we'll make sure that… we'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget."  

Mick stood helplessly as the five boys advanced.  He knew that he stood no chance.  His gaze swept around at the audience, meeting several awkward glances and embarrassed shuffles of feet.  

Ramon had pulled his arm back, preparing to strike this insolent kid in front of him.  No one had ever dared stand up to him, no one, that is, except _them, but this new boy, he was different from the rest.  He did not even know __them; in fact, he probably didn't know anyone at this school.  But that just made things easier.  The new boy was on his own._

Mick barely had time to see a smile form on Ramon's face, before a huge fist swung forward, a fist that he knew he had no time to dodge.

A/N:  Heehee, managed to end it in a cliffhanger.  Pretty mean feat for the first chapter of the first fanfic I've ever written.  I suppose you all know who Mick is by now.  Pretty obvious if you ask me.  If you don't, well, I'm not gonna say anything.  Oh, and I hope I didn't take anyone else's idea.  I promise, this all came from my head (well, most of it).  I'll try to have the next chapter up soon.  See you there.  


	2. First Meeting

**The New Guy**

Disclaimer: I happen to use a lot of stuff that I don't own, like air for example, and pokemon.

Thud!  The crowded hallway gasped as one as Ramon's fist came down.  They groaned as they saw the cute red-headed boy slide down against the wall, crouching into a sitting position, covering his face with his arms.

"Man, I feel sorry for him.  He's gonna feel that one for a while."

"Yeah, no one can stand up to Ramon; he's the oldest kid in Level 1."

"Do you think he's still alive?"

Whispers rang around the hallway.  They echoed strangely in Mick's ears.  Apart from the initial shock of seeing a huge fist coming towards his face, he hadn't felt anything at all.  _Wow_, he thought, _is this what it's like to be hit?  It's not that bad at all; I don't feel a single thing!_  He opened his eyes a crack, lifted his head, and looked around. 

"What the?  Look, the new kid's okay.  He isn't even scratched."  Shocked and confused voices replaced the ones from before.  Their owners watched the reaction on Ramon's face, eager to see what he thought of this sudden turn of events.

What Mick saw when he looked up at the place where his head had been surprised even himself.  He could tell that Ramon was not that smart, but this?  He couldn't help it.  He started laughing. 

"Whoa, look at him.  He's insane, poor kid, I guess the shock of facing Ramon really shook him up."  The tone of the whispers in the hall changed yet again.  That is, until Ramon turned around, and most of the spectators got a look at him themselves.

He was mad, that was obvious, his face was burning red and he looked like he was having trouble containing himself.  But the thing that caught everyone's attention was his fist, or rather, where his fist had been.

Judging from the hole in the wall, Ramon had missed Mick's head by a solid five feet!  The whole hallway erupted in laughter.

"What's all the commotion about?  Why aren't you all in class?  The bell rang two minutes ago."  Cried an annoyed Mr. Robbert, having been attracted by all the noises outside his empty classroom.  Upon seeing the fist in the hole where the wall was supposed to be, he got really angry.  "What happened here?  There is no fighting in school.  You, tell me, what happened?!"  The teacher pointed to Ramon, who had calmed down a bit now that there was an adult around.

"He…he started it."  Ramon whined, pointing his remaining hand at Mick, who was still sitting cuddled against the wall, shaking with laughter.

"No excuses.  I thought I told you to show Mick around campus, not try and make him part of it.  And while we're at it, take your hand out of the wall now, young man; you are showing disrespect towards this school."  Mr. Robbert knew Ramon's reputation of being a school bully; after all, he had been his teacher for the past four years.  "Everyone else, go to your next class, NOW!"

The students still standing around to watch what would happen all ran to their classrooms, they knew not to mess around in a situation like this.  Most likely, the principal would be called.  Ramon's friends also scattered quickly, not wanting to be caught.

"Except you, Ash.  You can stay.  When this is all sorted out, I want you to show Mick around.  I don't expect anything like this to happen again, got it?"  Mr. Robbert nodded to the young boy leaning against the wall, who had an amused look on his face.  Apparently, Ash had had no thought of going to class anyway.  Mr. Robbert turned around to find Ramon's hand still in the wall.  "I told you to pull your fist out of school property!  What is it still doing there?"  He practically screamed at the frightened boy.

"But…it…I…its stuck."  Ramon looked totally embarrassed as he stood there, one arm hanging limp by his side, the other still stuck in the wall.  He was glad only three people were there to hear him, but why the heck did one of them have to be Ash of all people?  Ash, the leader of _them_, the only group of people in this school that he was scared of, though he would never show it.

"Well, it's not my problem is it?  Mick, go get the principal."  The grooming teacher asked the young boy, who had finally stopped laughing and was now standing next to Ramon.

"Sure," Mick replied, running down the hall in the direction of the Principal's Office.

"Now," Mr. Robbert continued, facing Ramon, "you are going to tell me everything that happened.  No lying, I'm sure that young man over there saw exactly what occurred.

Mick felt unusually happy, as he knocked on the same door he had came out of just an hour ago.  He had escaped Ramon by some weird miracle and been reassigned some other person to show him around school.  Judging by his height, his new mentor was probably a couple of years younger than him.  There was also the fact that Ramon seemed to be scared of him, as he had seen Ramon avoiding the boy's eyes.

"Come in," came the same voice from before.  Mick wiped the smile off his face and entered the room.  It looked exactly as she had left it, except that Principal Dude was now snoring away on a ratty sofa.  _Quite loudly, too_, he thought.  He turned to where Ms. Hackers was typing something on her computer.  "Um, Ms. Hackers, there's been a fight and someone's hand is stuck in the wall.  Mr. Robbert wants Mr. Dude to come."

"Hmm, Ramon again, huh?  This always happens when there's a new kid at school, except this is the first time he got his hand stuck in a wall.  Usually, it's the new kid who's unconscious."  Still typing away letter by letter, she didn't seem to notice the queasy look on Mick's face when he heard that.  "I'll send Mr. Dude down right away.

Mick stood patiently nearby as he waited for Ms. Hackers to wake the young principal up, but to his surprise, Ms. Hackers did nothing of the sort.  She walked over to the vending machine and got another Twix bar.  Mick watched, curious as to what was going to happen. Suddenly, he blinked.  _Wait, something isn't right,_ he thought, utterly confused.  There was no sign of the principle anywhere on the old couch, though Mick could have sworn he had just been sleeping soundly on it a moment ago.  Confused, he looked to Ms. Hackers, to confirm that he wasn't having daydreams.  What he saw made him blink again.  Where Ms. Hackers had stood holding a Twix just a second before now stood Principal Dude with an empty wrapper in his hand.  Mr. Dude smiled at him, "Would you like a Twix?"

He blinked yet again.  Ms. Hackers was back at the computer, typing as if she had never left her seat.  "Um, how did that happen?"  He wondered aloud to himself.  "Oh well, no time to figure that out, there's more important things to take care of."  He turned towards Mr. Dude to tell him that he was needed by Mr. Robbert, and was relatively unsurprised to find him gone.  _Well, I suppose I should be going too.  Shouting a hasty thank you to Ms. Hackers, Mick ran out the office after the 17 year old principal._

Ash stood with his arms crossed over his chest watching the one-sided conversation between the teacher and the culprit in front of him.  _Ramon's sure in for it this time, _he thought, raising his hands to fix his tie, which had become very uncomfortable.  He gave a small smirk when he saw Ramon glance at him from underneath Mr. Robbert's arm, hatred and embarrassment showing in his eyes.  He checked his watch.  _Hmm, it's been 15 minutes since that kid went to get the principal, I wonder why they aren't here yet_.  Barely had he raised his head when all of a sudden, a young man about 17 years old appeared, munching on a candy bar.  _He must be one of the level 7's, Ash noted, _what's___ he doing here?  To his surprise, Mr. Robbert stopped berating Ramon and turned toward the young man._

"Dude."  Was all he said, patting the young man on the back.  Ash watched on, not sure what was happening.

"Yo Kyle, what's up?"  The young man took a glance at Ash, standing to the side, and Ramon with his fist in the wall.  "I don't see anything wrong here."

_Kyle?  Was that Mr. Robbert's name?  Why would a student be calling him that?  Not to mention that he seemed to be telling Mr. Robbert what to do.  Who was this guy?_  Tons of questions ran through Ash's mind.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the new boy running up, panting as if he'd just finished a marathon.  _That reminds me, I've still got to make his acquaintance, he seems different from the rest, and it wasn't just the way he stood up to Ramon today.  _Ash turned his attention back on the grooming teacher.

"If you say so."  The teacher turned toward the two boys.  "Ash, you can show Mick around now, I'm sure Mr. Dude will excuse you from your classes.  Oh yes, I don't believe you've met him yet, he's your principal."

Surprised, Ash nodded dumbly and motioned for Mick to follow him, but not before asking, "What's going to happen with Ramon?"

The newly acquainted principle smiled back at him through a mouthful of candy, "He's gonna have to make up all his classes.  It's his own fault he's stuck in the wall; we're not going to anything about it.  Come on Kyle, I believe this is your prep hour, lets go to my office and pig out on candy."  With that, he and Mr. Robbert walked down the hall, not even glancing back once at the sputtering, bewildered Ramon.

Ash walked the opposite way, with Mick trailing not far behind.

Their steps echoed off the empty corridor, bouncing back toward them in the awkward silence.  Passing by several closed doors, Mick watched the back of his new mentor in front of him.  Mentally, he chided himself for getting in a mess on his first day of school.  Ramon was sure not to forget him, and he was still on his own since he didn't know anyone else here.  Feeling kind of strange all of a sudden, he looked up from his gaze on linoleum floor to find the younger boy staring at him, coming to a stop.

"You'll find that you won't know this place any better if you keep staring at your feet like that."  The boy said.  "My name's Ash Ketchum by the way, I just started Pokemon Institute this year, too.  Ramon and his friends are trouble, they've been here for four years and they've flunked every year.  They're the oldest kids in Level 1.  You want to avoid them if you can, but it seems impossible now."  He gave a wry smile, taking his cap off and sweeping his fingers through his raven black hair. 

"I kinda noticed," Mick smiled back, "Great, just my luck to be branded a troublemaker on my first day.  Anyway, my name's Mick Waters, I'm from Cerulean City.  My sisters and I heard about this school from our father and I decided to try it out.  It's supposed to have the highest success rate of becoming a pokemon master in Kanto, isn't it?"

"Yeah?  I don't really know.  My mom got a brochure for this school from our neighbor, Professor Oak.  His grandson was going to come here and he thought I might want to come too.  Of course, my mom agreed and sent me off; I'm from Pallet town.  Did you say you came from Cerulean?  Have you ever seen the Waterflower sisters?  All the Level 6's and 7's talk about them.  They're supposed to be really pretty and talented and stuff."  Ash seemed to be studying his face very intently; Mick fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Um, yeah, you know, I see them on T.V. a lot," Mick stuttered, wondering what Ash was thinking about.  "Say, where are the student rooms?"

"All the living quarters are located on the west side of campus.  The Level 1's get the crappiest rooms of course." Ash grimaced and laughed, "you wanna go see them?"

"Sure, the room I got was 135, what's your room number?" Mick wanted to know more about this boy whom Ramon was afraid of.  _It wouldn't be so bad if I can make friends with him, _he thought.

"I'll tell you when we get there, come on."  Ash started running, with Mick trying to keep up, they ran laughing all the way across the almost empty school campus, bowling into a teacher on the way.

A/N: I know, boring chapter, not much going on, but hey, they're still getting to know each other.  At the rate I'm going, this fic could end up anywhere, so if you have an idea you want to put in, I'd be happy to consider it.  By the way, if any of the characters and/or plot seems kinda weird to you, well, they're supposed to be, and there's no reason why, so bear with it.  Thanks for the reviews and I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner than it took me this time.


End file.
